North’s nuclear threats underscore need for a realistic, publicly backed South policy

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un used the Workers’ Party’s Ninth Congress, which closed on Wednesday, to dismiss the Lee Jae Myung administration’s outreach as a “clumsy deception,” stating there was nothing to discuss with South Korea, which he called the most hostile entity. He also warned that any act that harms the security of the North, a nuclear state, could not rule out “the complete collapse of the South,” invoking the prospect of a nuclear strike. Ahead of the congress, Pyongyang also showcased a 600-millimeter multiple rocket launcher billed as a weapon for use against the South.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has acknowledged how hard it has been to restart inter-Korean talks. His government has tried to draw a response with pre-emptive steps, including restoring the Sept. 19 inter-Korean military agreement and scaling back Korea-U.S. joint exercises, but Kim’s message suggests those concessions are not working.

Pursuing dialogue with North Korea, including denuclearization, to build peace on the Korean Peninsula is a responsibility every administration inherits. But policy must reflect the other side’s strategic posture. Lee’s “peacemaker” and “pacemaker” framing at last year’s Korea-U.S. summit was an attempt to ground engagement in alliance coordination: Washington would take the lead, and Seoul would support and sustain the effort. However, Kim, while demanding recognition as a nuclear state and an end to what he calls a hostile policy, still left room for talks with the United States, implying he sees Washington, not Seoul, as the primary counterpart.

That is why it is troubling when parts of the government appear to push unilateral conciliation and allow friction with the United States to surface. Saying one thing and doing another can erode trust in the alliance and weaken leverage in any negotiation. For Pyongyang, Seoul’s goodwill is likely to be read less as an attempt at peace and more as a vulnerability.

Any durable North Korea policy also requires public consent. It is difficult to expect confidence in an engagement drive when the North is issuing nuclear threats against the South. Lee cited on Thursday the proverb that a spoonful of rice does not fill the belly, stressing persistence in dialogue and cooperation to build trust. But while persistence matters, trust depends less on effort than on a sound direction, clear principles and deterrence.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.